A pneumatic tire has been put into practical use in which an inner liner layer is made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition, which is far superior in air impermeability to rubber, instead of a conventionally used butyl rubber composition.
However, in order to provide a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition as the inner liner layer, it is necessary to form these materials into the shape of a film in advance, and then mount the thus formed materials onto the inner surface of an uncured tire. Accordingly, a facility for forming a film is required, and, moreover, many labor-intensive steps for handling thin films are involved. Thus, there has been a problem of low productivity.
As part of countermeasures taken against this problem, proposals have been made on a method of forming an inner liner layer by spraying or applying a certain solution of a polymeric material or a certain emulsion onto a tire inner surface (refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2, for instance). However, these proposals entail a problem that the working environment is deteriorated by scattering of an organic solvent coming from the solution or emulsion applied. Accordingly, in order to prevent such deterioration of the working environment, it is necessary to install a facility for removing such scattered organic solvent and a new step associated therewith. Thus, there arises a problem of significantly decreased cost efficiency and productivity.